Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time

by Jeff Sutherland

“Scrum.” The term comes from the game of rugby, and it refers to the way a team works together to move the ball down the field. Careful alignment, unity of purpose, and clarity of goal come together.

Scrum embraces uncertainty and creativity. It places a structure around the learning process, enabling teams to assess both what they’ve created and, just as important, how they created it.

At its root, Scrum is based on a simple idea: whenever you start a project, why not regularly check in, see if what you’re doing is heading in the right direction, and if it’s actually what people want? And question whether there are any ways to improve how you’re doing what you’re doing, any ways of doing it better and faster, and what might be keeping you from doing that.

The end results of Scrum—the design goal, if you will—are teams that dramatically improve their productivity.

Companies have two choices: change or die.”

Scrum can be such a powerful change for people. No one should spend their lives on meaningless work. Not only is it not good business, it kills the soul.

Making people prioritize by value forces them to produce that 20 percent first. Often by the time they’re done, they realize they don’t really need the other 80 percent, or that what seemed important at the outset actually isn’t.

production should flow swiftly and calmly throughout the process,

one of management’s key tasks is to identify and remove impediments to that flow.

Scrum works by setting sequential goals that must be completed in a fixed length of time.

PDCA cycle (Plan, Do, Check, Act).

Work doesn’t have to suck. It can flow; it can be an expression of joy, an alignment toward a higher purpose. We can be better. We can be great! We just have to practice.

Observe, Orient, Decide, Act. Know where you are, assess your options, make a decision, and act!

Teams are what get things done in the world of work.

teams are what make the world go ’round.

In a very real way the very decision to not be average, but to be great, changes the way they view themselves, and what they’re capable of.

The teams are self-organizing and self-managing, they have the power to make their own decisions about how they do their jobs, and are empowered to make those decisions stick.

One of the key concepts in Scrum is that the team members decide themselves how they’re going to do the work. It’s management’s responsibility to set the strategic goals, but it’s the team’s job to decide how to reach those goals.

Whenever there are handoffs between teams, there is the opportunity for disaster.

Keep your teams small.

We all perceive ourselves as responding to a situation, while we see others as motivated by their character.

The rule of thumb is seven team members—plus or minus two. Err on the small side.

Blame Is Stupid. Don’t look for bad people; look for bad systems—ones that incentivize bad behavior and reward poor performance.

Time is the ultimate limiter of human endeavor, affecting everything from how much we work, to how long things take, to how successful we are.

Passivity is not only lazy, it actively hurts the rest of the team’s performance. Once spotted, it needs to be eliminated immediately.

“Do you really want to suck forever? Is that what your motivation is in life? Because it’s a choice, you know—you don’t have to be that way.”

Break down your work into what can be accomplished in a regular, set, short period—optimally one to four weeks. And if you’ve caught the Scrum fever, call it a Sprint.

Titles are specialized status markers. Be known for what you do, not how you’re referred to.

We’re pattern seekers, driven to seek out rhythm in all aspects of our lives.

“Waste is a crime against society more than a business loss.”

We’re human; we make mistakes. How you deal with those mistakes can have an extraordinary impact on how fast you can get things done, and at what level of quality.

The human mind has limits. We can only remember so many things; we can really only concentrate on one thing at a time.

Do things right the first time.

if you do make a mistake—and we all make them—fix it as soon as you notice it. If you don’t, you’ll pay for it.

Working less helps you get more done with higher quality.

When we don’t have any energy reserves left, we’re prone to start making unsound decisions.

So there’s a limited number of sound decisions you can make in any one day, and as you make more and more, you erode your ability to regulate your own behavior.

By not working so much, you’ll get more and better work done.

You want to give your team challenging goals—to push them to reach for more. But you don’t want them striving for absurd, impossible goals.

A team that depends on regular heroic actions to make its deadlines is not working the way it’s supposed to work.

It’s the difference between a cowboy riding in and rescuing the girl from the bad guys and a disciplined Marine platoon clearing the kill zone.

Assholes often justify their behavior by claiming they’re simply trying to make people work better. But they’re merely indulging the negative aspects of their personality, and nothing is more undermining of a team’s ability to excel.

Don’t be an asshole—and don’t allow, abet, or accept that behavior in others.

Doing more than one thing at a time makes you slower and worse at both tasks. Don’t do it. If you think this doesn’t apply to you, you’re wrong—it does.

Goals that are challenging are motivators; goals that are impossible are just depressing.

If you need a hero to get things done, you have a problem. Heroic effort should be viewed as a failure of planning.

Any policy that seems ridiculous likely is.

Anyone who causes emotional chaos, inspires fear or dread, or demeans or diminishes people needs to be stopped cold.

Strive for Flow. Choose the smoothest, most trouble-free way to get things done.

Don’t fall in love with your plan. It’s almost certainly wrong.